Concerning the status of the church, we have seen that the church is the assembly, the house of God, the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, and the counterpart of Christ. In this message we come to the church as the new man.
The book of Ephesians reveals that the church is the Body of Christ (1:22-23), the kingdom of God, the household of God (2:19), and the temple, the dwelling place of God (2:21-22). In 2:15 and 4:24 we see that the church is the new man. Ephesians 2:15 says, “Having abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, making peace.” Ephesians 4:24 says, “And have put on the new man, which according to God was created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Furthermore, Colossians 3:10 says, “And having put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” The Greek word for church, ekklesia, means those called out for a gathering; hence, an assembly. This is the initial aspect of the church. From this aspect we need to go on to the aspects of the house of God and the kingdom of God. These are higher than the initial aspect but not as high as the aspect of the church as the Body of Christ. Yet the new man is still higher than the Body of Christ. Thus, the church is not just an assembly of believers, a kingdom of heavenly citizens, a household of God’s children, nor even a Body for Christ. In an even higher aspect, the church is the new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. The emphasis on the church being the Body of Christ is on life, whereas the emphasis on the church being the new man is on the person. As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life. As the new man, the church needs Christ as its person. The body without life is not a body but a corpse. However, when the body makes a move, it is decided not by life but by the person. Hence, in the new man we need to take Christ as our person. The new man as a corporate person should live a life as Jesus lived on earth, that is, a life of truth, expressing God and causing God to be realized as reality by man.
God’s creation of man in Genesis 1 is a picture of the new man in God’s new creation. This means that the old creation is a figure, a type, of the new creation. In God’s old creation the central character is man. It is the same in God’s new creation. Therefore, in both the old creation and the new creation man is the center.
God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26) and then gave man His dominion. Image is for expression. God wants man to be His expression. Dominion, however, is a matter not of expression but of representation. God wants man to represent Him in His authority for His dominion. In the old creation man was created to have God’s image to express Him and also to have His dominion to represent Him.
The image refers to God’s positive intention, and dominion to God’s negative intention. God’s positive intention is that man would express Him, whereas God’s negative intention is that man would deal with God’s enemy, Satan, the Devil. In the universe God has a problem, the problem of dealing with His enemy. Since God’s enemy, the Devil, is a creature, God will not deal with him directly Himself; instead, He will deal with him by man, a creature of His creation. God deals with His enemy through man. Hence, in God’s creation of man there were two intentions. The positive intention is that man would bear God’s image for His expression; the negative intention is that man would have God’s dominion to represent Him to deal with His enemy.
In the old creation the dominion given to man was limited to the earth. This means that in the old creation the dealing with God’s enemy was restricted to the earth. However, in God’s new creation the dominion has been enlarged to the entire universe.
Eventually, the church as the new man is the man in God’s intention. God wanted a man, and in the old creation He created a figure, a type, not the real man. The real man is the man Christ created on the cross through His all-inclusive death. This man is called the new man.
The term “the new man” reminds us of the old man. The old man did not fulfill God’s dual purpose. However, the new man in God’s new creation does fulfill the twofold purpose of expressing God and dealing with God’s enemy.
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